


Lady of Fell Winter

by Angrykarin666



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Bilbo Baggins, BAMF Harry Potter, Bramble is Bilbo, Canonical Character Death, Character Rebirth, Elf Harry Potter, F/M, Female Bilbo Baggins, Female Harry Potter, Gen, Holly is Harry, I promise, Other, Past Torture, Reincarnation, cause orcs, this is gonna be a wild ride
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2019-11-16 06:06:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18088859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angrykarin666/pseuds/Angrykarin666
Summary: Holly had been lost... Well, more like she'd been stolen eons ago and was struggling to find her way back. She manages to, after a short but difficult time spent reborn in another world, return to her own. Now if only she could manage to remember who she was before her human life, before the ages of torture at the hands of Gundabad orcs.Perhaps along the way she'll make some friends to help her?





	1. Holly Potter

Holly Potter was not originally a Potter, at least as far as her soul was concerned. She wasn't human either. Holly, for she knew instinctually that that had always been her name in any world or life, was what a human would consider to be a very old soul. Almost as ancient as the husband she once had but could no longer remember after her centuries at the mercy of Gundabad orcs.

The dark haired woman was tall, tan skinned as a human, and bore striking green eyes. Her eyes had always been green, it was one of the few things she could remember about her long past life in her past world; her husband (though his name and face still eluded her) had loved her eyes. Eyes whose color was unusual but very beautiful for an elf to possess. As a human they were less rare, but equally as stunning.

As her body lay tortured and sleeping in the orc fortress that had held her captive for centuries her soul was sent on a brief (to one of her lifespan) but no less exciting journey in another world. She has faint but present memories of powerful and otherworldly beings sending her on this journey, the lady in green gripping her heart with a deep feeling of familiarity that she still could not explain, and had faith that once her task here was done they would return her to her own world.

Until then, she had work to do.

Holly was the one chosen to fulfill a prophecy apparently, to end the reign of the Darkest Lord of this strange and very much different world she'd found herself in. Oddly enough the concept felt somehow familiar to her, though she hadn't the foggiest idea why. 

The so-called Girl-Who-Lived, as she had been titled upon her partial defeat of Voldemort as an infant, had a childhood which would have been torturous and soul crushing were she not already numb to tortures far worse from her time with the orcs that stole her. Her relatives despised her for her magic, a gift she was born with and could not currently control, and tried their damnedest to stamp it out of her. While she was not in any way fond of being treated as a slave, cleaning up after and cooking for the Dursleys from the moment her new human body could walk, it was preferable to her centuries of the foulest tortures imaginable prior to this life. Holly bore her temporary struggles with grace and poise which her human relatives envied, not once crying out in pain or complaining.

Not to say the raven wasn't in pain. Holly was near constantly shifting between pangs of starvation that gripped her stomach in a nauseating vice, bone deep aches from a body worked far beyond its limits, and splitting headaches from the chunk of rotten soul Voldemort had lodged into the scar on her forehead. Sometimes, if she was particularly lucky, she would feel all three at once.

But to one with a pain tolerance as high as hers these were only minor issues, their frequent occurrence quickly numbing her to them.

 

\-----

 

Holly hummed in contentment, a tune nameless yet familiar, as she sat in the Gryffindor common room with her friends. Hermione was a clever and knowledge hungry witch, always eager to learn with a fiery temper. Ron meanwhile, while still clever in his own right, was a loyal and adventurous sort. The redheaded boy was more interested in getting into mischief and having fun than pursuits of raw knowledge or schoolwork. 

Ginny, Ron's younger sister, had an even shorter and more wicked temper than Hermione did. She was a tomboy, preferring the masculine pursuits of battle and sport to the feminine, much like Holly herself. Her older brothers, numerous as they were, all just as passionate and welcoming as Ginevra and Ronald were. Bill was a curse breaker, Charlie a dragon keeper, Percy a prefect in school before later joining the Ministry - which he rapidly climbed to a high position in, and the twins were pranksters of the highest caliber. Holly gladly gave Fred and George the money to start their prank shop, giving them her prize money from the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

Then there was Neville Longbottom, herbology genius with a heart of gold, and Luna Lovegood. Holly was almost certain that Luna was a seer of some sort. She knew far too much for any other explanation.

The other Gryffindors had long since gotten used to the blonde Ravenclaw being in their dorm. Often sitting between Ginny and Holly as they read the Quibbler or talk about things in strange tongues that only Holly, herself, and to a lesser extent their other friends can speak. Currently the Girl-Who-Lived was being taught how to put her hair up into another intricate yet strangely familiar braided hairstyle by the young seer, winding a pair of deer antlers into the updo that reminded her not just of James Potter - her father in this life - but filled her with a warm nostalgia for the long lost home she couldn't remember. 

She got the same feeling when she strolled through the Forbidden Forest.

 _"I believe my past home must have been near a forest, one filled with deer."_ Holly stated blankly in Sindarin as she finished styling her own raven locks and held up a second pair of antlers in askance to the white-blonde girl, who smiled and nodded before replying. _"It was actually in the heart of one. Your memories of there will return to you in time, they won't stay lost forever."_

As she sat cross-legged on the floor behind Luna, weaving her long elven white hair into this style much faster than she did with her own, she had a brief flash of doing this with an elf with hair just like the girl's. The flash of memory, while brief and not showing his face or name, she knew was of her husband. The realization made her smile.  _"You know Luna, I believe you're right."_

The human girl's far-seeing blue eyes sparkled with joy, her face pulling into a smile. 

 

\-----

 

Holly smiled faintly as she walked to what would be the death of this life. 

She had lost many good friends from this life to this war with Voldemort, and what little had remained of her family. Earlier this very day she had lost Luna, who risked her life to distract Nagini enough for Neville to kill her, and Draco. The Slytherin prince, while not always on friendly terms with her, had changed eventually. He even risked his life to help her and her friends escape his home and paid the price for it. The once elf had not cried so hard as she did holding the blondes' dying bodies in centuries, the seer's promise that they'd meet again in the near future doing little to ease her pain. 

Luna was family. Draco had become family. 

As she stood before Voldemort, knowing full well that currently his only tie to life was the chunk of his soul lodged in herself, the raven smiled. "Hello Tom." Holly took satisfaction in the way he bristled at her casual use of his birth name, something Dumbledore had once done before his death.

"Holly Potter, come to die." he taunted, earning laughs from his followers. The young witch's kind yet tired smile did not waver, for a brief moment Voldemort and his Death Eaters were struck by how a mere child could bare the same wizened and ageless look on her face as the late Albus Dumbledore. But quickly they shook it off, the dark lord eagerly moving to strike his supposed vanquisher down with his favorite curse.

Holly made no moves to dodge the flash of green light, did not move a muscle to strike back with a curse of her own, merely closed her eyes and accepted her fate. The witch died with a smile on her face, crumpling to the forest floor like a marionette whose strings were cut. Those who watched, even the man who killed her, were briefly struck at the sight of her still body with a deep sense of sorrow; though for most it was merely fleeting. 

Seeing her die was like staring upon the slain body of a unicorn, leaving all feeling as though they had seen an affront against nature and magic itself. 

While her body was taunted, cruciod a few times for kicks by the fouler Death Eaters there and the Dark Lord before Hagrid was forced to carry her corpse to the castle, Holly herself was resting briefly in the glowing white realm of the space between worlds. The Lady in Green smiled down at her, green eyes sparkling with pride, and spoke in Sindarin  _"Hello again child, I see your work is done."_

They watched the final fight, Neville stepping up upon Holly's death and slaying Voldemort once and for all in her name. The witch knew the boy had the makings of a hero in him, smiling fondly as he is hailed as the Man-Who-Conquered and honors the sacrifice of herself, Luna, Draco, and all those who stood for what was right. Turning back to look at the flower decorated and otherworldly woman Holly smiled, holding out her hand  _"I am ready."_

Upon taking the raven's hand the woman disappeared in a flash of light. Back in her old body, in her old world, toxic green eyes opened. And while Holly may be back to her imprisoned state, deep in a dank orc stronghold, the elven woman was not staying here. Flexing her magic, a gift carried over from her human life, her chains released her.

Holly was free.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter is Holly's return to Middle Earth and attempts to find her way home. She discovers the changes her centuries with the orcs has caused, makes some new friends, and slowly regains her memories.
> 
> Yes, this is a fem Harry & fem Bilbo AU. Because I can do what I want and there is a distinct lack of female characters in the Hobbit, even adding Tauriel. Hope you guys like this!


	2. Searching for Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Escaping her captors Holly searches for her home, making a name for herself and a new friend in the process.
> 
> (There is some mild gore in this chapter, just as a warning.)

As she walked through the orc stronghold, slaying all she came across with the yew bow and arrows she'd pilfered from a guard with skills she seemed to possess but not remember how or when she'd learned, Holly took note of her altered appearance. Her once pale elven skin was darker, not the golden bronze of her human life but the deep ebony brown she associated with Uruks of Mordor, and littered with numerous overlapping scars from her centuries of torture at the hands of the Gundabad orcs. Her pitch black nails were sharp and predatory, as were her now cat-like set of teeth (all sharp and jagged save for her incisors) according to her tongue.

She was not a true orc yet however, that she knew.

Holly frowned as she stared at her body, clad in only the vile tar-like blood of countless orcs she'd slain in her escape. That would need to be fixed, but how exactly she wasn't sure. A pointed ear twitched as the sound of an approaching warg behind her, turning and letting an arrow fly at it she watches at the great beast falls to the ground. Noting its tawny pelt the raven haired elf smiles to herself, it seems she'd stumbled upon an answer to her problem.

As she skinned the great canine a handful of memories flashed through her mind. Hunting with her husband and a few others of her race, rarely though they did, as well as her few (compared to her husband and the men who patrolled and defended their forest home but more frequently than any other woman she'd met, elf or otherwise) battles she'd fought in. Holly had a strong image of herself and her husband riding on the backs of elk, hunting down a buck each for an Autumn feast she is certain was a tradition as old as their forest - if not older.

The thought makes her smile.

Starved and waiting for the pelt to finish tanning after finishing her task of separating the warg's skin from its flesh, memories of her peoples' feelings about hunting grip her. For most elves to take the life of an animal for sustenance is not necessary and many choose not to, eating only green food. For her people hunting is, for at least part of the year, a necessity for survival. No part of a hunted animal goes to waste however, the bones and teeth being carved into daggers, arrowheads, or ornaments to be worn. All organs and flesh eaten.

With this regained knowledge, her body somewhere between elven and orcish, and the gnawing hunger in her gut Holly dug into the warg's carcass. The beast's meat was raw and hardly delicious, but it was not as vile as one would expect. Next time however she'll cook it first.

 

\-----

 

Holly had been wandering for a long time now, not quite home yet nor knowing the way, and was in a place completely unfamiliar yet just as green as she remembered of her forest. Wrapped up in her warg pelt cloak and deer skin tunic the elf relaxed against a tree trunk in this woodland, just far enough from the man-made path that none of the menfolk from that village she'd found spotted her. The last time she was spotted by those of the race of men was distinctly unfriendly, them having mistaken her for an orc of some kind.

Well... They weren't entirely wrong in their assumption.

It had been a few years since her escape. After wandering awhile and finding this place full of peace and greenery yet lacking protection from the dark horrible things of the world Holly decided to stay for a while, if only to keep this land of peaceful free folk green and free of dangers. The dark elf, as the men who'd seen her and discovered her slaying the orcs and other foul things that wandered into this place in search of easy prey (and the handful of orcs that she'd let escape to spread fearful tales of her) came to call her, had made herself comfy in a little cave that once held wolves before she came to this place.

Today however, as she relaxed in the summer sun, she was startled by a voice. "Who are you Miss? I've never seen a lady like you before!"

Jumping slightly, for never before had she been snuck up on by even a creature as small and silent as a field mouse due to her hearing, green eyes snapped open to stare at a very tiny girl. The child appeared to be nearing her tweens, with curly black hair and short yet pointed ears a bit like an elf's, but was as tiny as an elven toddler. The girl's curious dark green eyes, the emerald color of forest leaves, sparkled with awe and excitement that reminded the once witch of Hermione when she'd discovered something new about magic.

"I am Holly and I was once an elf like any other, now however... the men of this place call me The Dark Elf." The girl seemed to find her answer satisfactory, bouncing with joy at receiving one, and so the elf asked a question in turn. "And you dear? I must say i've never seen a girl quite like you myself."

"Belladonna Took." the tiny lass replied proudly "Daughter of the Thain and future greatest adventurer of all Hobbits! I'm going to travel farther than any Hobbit's ever gone in the history of the Shire, I can promise you that!"

Holly chuckled "If you ever want a companion for your travels i'd be happy to join, yours sounds like quite the adventure." 

Belladonna sat and talked with Holly for quite some time, never seeming to tire of her presence or run out of questions. And though the child reluctantly agreed to go home for the night, promising to visit again soon, the dark elf didn't quite expect soon to mean the very next day - which is precisely when she saw the hobbit lass again.

 

\-----

 

"Holly!" Belladonna cried excitedly as she tackled the other, much taller, woman in a hug. "You made it!"

The elven woman beamed, thankful that the hobbit hugging her and a decent number of the others in the room didn't seem to bat an eye over her fangs "As if I would miss my best friend's wedding. You look stunning already, I must say."

Her fellow raven snorted, her smile fond "I'll look better once i'm fully ready. My gown is much nicer than this one and my hair will look nicer once you've done it... But thank you anyway."

Holly herself was dressed in her nicest deer fur dress, which was made in hobbit style but sized to a woman her height. The skirt was patches of light brown on a mostly white pelt due to the buck's piebald coloring, her back-laced corset the ashen brown leather of a doe's winter pelt, and she wore no undershirt to speak of. All together this left a lot of her dark scar adorned skin bare for all to see. All of her arms, her neck, what didn't hide of her shoulders under the two inch straps there, a decent bit from her collar down to just before the top of her breasts, and most of her legs from just below her knee down to her currently bare feet.

Normally Holly would wear boots and bracers that she'd made from the rest of these deer's leather, but for a near exclusively hobbit event like this the dark elf made an exception. Her black locks were weaved into a half braided/half free style around the antlers of the buck she was wearing, which had decorative vine and leaf designs carved into them, and a necklace of warg fangs and red wood beads that Belladonna had gifted to her as a child hung round her neck.

Following the bride into a back room, where the young woman's sisters and mother greeted the she-elf fondly, Holly gracefully moved to kneel on the ground behind her fellow raven haired, green eyed woman. Pulling out the white hair ornaments she'd made for her young friend from the bag she brought with her, wrapped in a small oak box she'd carved a stag and unicorn onto the lid of, Holly passed the box to the hobbit. "Pick those you think will look best, i'll teach you to put these all in yourself later."

Belladonna gasped as she looked over the various hairpins, beads, combs, and ornaments contained within. They were all bone or antler, which by hobbit standards was typically considered an odd or undesirable choice, the girl knew. But judging by her relatives' cooing over their craftsmanship and questions of where the elf got them Belladonna doubts that anyone will recognize that. Most Shire folk don't even know how to slaughter or hunt their own meat, let alone what exactly bones looks like when altered this much. 

The hobbitess loves them.

Grabbing a set of small (compared to the dark elf's own) set of antlers decorated with vine and flower carvings rather than the holly leaves on the taller raven's own and smiling up at her shyly Belladonna Took hands them to her oldest friend. "It only seems fair that we both be wearing our namesake then Holly."

Smiling fondly as she complies, weaving the smaller girl's antlers into a beautiful waterfall braid like her own - only decorated with gillyflowers, violets, jasmine, white dittany, and deep red carnations throughout. Carefully adding the flower crown of daisies, roses, and orchids Bella's mother hands to her on top of that Holly smiles with her finished work and sits back to admire her handiwork. The hobbit lasses do the same far less silently, Belladonna's sister Mirabella cooing "Ooh! Your Bungo's going to swallow his tongue when he sees you Bell!"

Staring at her reflection the bride can't help but agree, she had never looked as lovely as she does now in her life.

As the wedding got started, Bungo indeed choking on his tongue when he sets his golden brown eyes on his wife, Holly was struck by flashes of her own wedding so long ago. Rather than Belladonna in her white and scarlet gown kissing her brunette husband in emerald she remembers herself in white and silver with her own silvery blonde husband in black and gold. She can even see his face this time, elegant and handsome with dark brows and icy blue eyes, the way his serious expression changes to one soft and fond when he looks at her.

She still can't remember his name, but finally seeing his face after so long heals a part of her deep down she'd forgotten ached.

Sharing a dance or two with Mithrandir, who does not recognize her (as she gets the feeling they'd not met in person before) but seems to have sympathy for what she's suffered to become as she is, as he is the only one close to her height in attendance. Not that a few adventurous Took lads don't try their hands at it as well. By the end of the night the Grey Wizard and Dark Elf have spoken and shared stories enough that they're happy to call each other friend at their parting. As she watches the grey clad man stroll away down the road on his next adventure, humming a merry tune to himself, Holly feels that he and Dumbledore would have gotten along wonderfully.

As she waved goodbye to her newlywed hobbit friend and her husband the raven witch hummed an elvish tune of her own. Perhaps Mithrandir could help her find her way home someday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holly is back in Middle Earth and has temporarily stopped in the Shire to keep them safe and sort out her slowly returning memories in peace. She's made friends and will soon meet Bramble (fem Bilbo).
> 
> Next chapter: Meeting Bramble and the reason the story is titled like it is.
> 
> Hope you guys are liking it so far!


	3. Bramble Baggins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holly meets her goddaughter and a few snippets of Brambles childhood.

Holly had not felt the raw joy she was now in centuries, millennia even. Staring down at the tiny newborn fauntling, wispy blonde curls upon a chubby pink face and pale greenish eyes peering out at her curiously, the elf beamed. This took her back to when her son was born, though memories of him were just as elusive in the same infuriating way as those of her husband. Another name she cannot remember despite the numerous small moments and facts of life she's had returned to her. Shaking the sad turn of her thoughts away the dark elf smiled at her friends. "She is beautiful Belladonna. Easily as much as my son was when he was born."

The hobbit lass perked up in interest from her seat in a nearby rocking chair. "You remembered something?! You really had a son?"

"Indeed I did." the taller raven stated proudly "He looked just like his father but his eyes were more green than blue, almost turquoise. Physically he was nearing his tweens when I was taken, so by now he's likely a man... I was trapped for a very very long time as you know." 

Bungo and Belladonna looked sad at the admission, the former deciding to lighten the mood somewhat. "I'm sure you'll see him again soon. Until then I doubt you'll miss a moment of our Bramble's growing up, being that you're her godmother."

Avada green eyes fixed the brunette hobbit with no small amount of shock "I'm what?!"

"You heard right dear." the raven hobbit lass stated warmly "You're one of my best and oldest friends Holly, you joined me on my adventures to keep me safe and helped me journey farther than any Hobbit's ever gone before, you protected me on the road and in the Shire by keeping foul things away from us, and you were the one who talked me into giving this old bookworm a chance to court me. You may not be a hobbit Holly, but you're as much a Took as my Bungo is as far as i'm concerned."

"I'd gladly call you a Baggins myself." Bungo added, earning a watery smile from the dark elf. 

How long has it been? Since she'd felt this kind of familial love and kindness? The Weasleys? She'd left them behind when her life as Holly Potter came to an end decades ago. Though her visits with the Tooks always felt achingly similar to her ones to the Burrow. Holly was certain now that, had the Weasleys been of Middle Earth, they would have been hobbits.

"Thank you. I'd gladly call you two my kin."

Belladonna held her arms open "Oh, come here and give us a hug before we all go weepy from this nonsense! No need to shed tears over such a happy moment!"

Holly complied, being careful as she holds the infant Bramble between them for the embrace. "You're right Bell, but I can't help it. It's always emotional when one introduces a little one to the family." Pulling back to once again stare down at her goddaughter's cute little face the elven witch beams "Welcome to the family Bramble Baggins."

 

\-----

 

Bramble, much like her mother, grew like a weed. She was just as bookish and polite as Bungo was, but with all the adventurous spirit and fiery temper of Belladonna. Where as her parents had dark curls Brambles were more of a honey brown, like the blonde in both of her grandparents' sides of the family had decided to present themselves again just for her. Paired with her brilliant hazel eyes that faded from an olive green to an amber gold around her pupil and perfect blend of Took and Baggins facial features the girl made for an ethereally lovely hobbit lass.

Holly smiled as she taught the young fauntling to speak Sindarin, just as she'd taught her mother before her, while Bungo took over her lessons on reading in any and every script he'd managed to collect thanks to his wife's many travels. Belladonna didn't travel much these days, focusing her time on raising Bramble and writing down the tales of her journeys thus far. Though the dark elf had no doubt her friend would return to her adventures and add to those tales once her daughter was old enough to go on adventures of her own. The fauntling already had one under her belt from their recent visit to Rivendell.

Remembering the way the elves of The Last Homely House East of the Sea had fussed over and adored the tiny and curious child always brought joy to the raven witch. Elves as a whole adored children, given that their own are generally few despite their extended lifespan and that (to one who lived as long as elves did) childhood was a very fleeting stage of life that was understandable. Bramble was likely the first child they'd seen so young in quite some time, still being a wee 8 year old barely out of her tots.

"Auntie Holly?" 

The woman in question glanced down at her goddaughter, who was pulling on her deer hide skirt and craning her neck to look up at the tall woman's face. Crouching down to ease the strain on the fauntling's neck Holly replies "Yes?"

"Can you teach me to fight and hunt, like you do? I want to go on an adventure like mum's someday." the child explained, doe-like hazel eyes glittering with excitement as she prepares what the raven knows will be the most irresistible puppy dog eyes should she refuse. Not that Holly would ever be able to, the tiny hobbit girl has had the dark elf wrapped around her fingers since the day she was born.

"I will, but we'll start small. You're a bit young for a bow at present." at the tot's pout holly chuckled "Don't give me that look love, bows are harder to build and use than they look. One your age is started on these." The she-elf held out a pair of her smallest (and usually hidden) daggers, ones which she'd carved from the bones of that tawny warg whose pelt she still wears as a cloak. They were still a bit large for the fauntling's hands, looking more like the long dagger set she kept strapped to her back with the yew bow than a small throwing knife.

"Cool!" Bramble states quietly, waiting patiently for the lesson to begin. Holly can already tell her goddaughter's going to be a force to be reckoned with by the time she's come of age.

 

\-----

 

Holly struggled not to laugh as she watched her now 20 year old goddaughter flitting around her mother's party, carefully swiping the things her cousin Lobelia had attempted to pilfer while remaining completely undetected and replacing them with knickknacks from some of the more affluent visitors' pockets. What was most amusing was that, aside from Holly and Mithrandir (whom the Hobbits referred to as Gandalf) none seemed to notice what she was doing at all.

This proved immensely amusing when the first guest noticed. A rather grumpy older man who'd decided to tried to check the time on his antique silver pocket watch, only to discover that it had gone missing. After patting down all his pockets he let out a shriek that someone had stolen it. "Which one of you has it, eh? Come, turn out your pockets."

A few did so to humor him, thinking he'd merely forgotten it at home in his old age, only to discover that their pockets were now empty as well. Before the crowd could get too rowdy, and noticing that Lobelia had just stuck her sticky fingers into one of her mothers' jewelry boxes Bramble caught their attention. "Um, excuse me. I believe I have an idea where they've gone."

"Oh? How's that, you steal them yourself?" Holly and Gandalf struggled to keep their poker faces at the words from Lobelia's mother, of all hobbits.

"No. I just thought that the way Lobelia is currently rifling through my mother's jewelry is a good sign of where it might've gone." The older hobbit lass followed the girls pointing finger, an incensed "Well I never-" barely making it out of Primrose's mouth before she, and all the other hobbits, saw that Brambles words were in fact the truth. At least partially. "Lobelia Bracegirdle! What do you think you are doing!"

The newly tween hobbit lass jolted dropping the box and managing to loose a few of the knickknacks Bramble had planted in her pockets in place of her family's own valuables, causing her to pale as her mother and all the other grown hobbits' faces flushed in anger. 

As the others turned out the girls pockets, her defenses doing nothing to appease their angry relatives (Her cry of "I didn't take these! I was only taking things from the house, honest!" had escaped and dug her a little deeper into trouble.) Bramble joined the two tallest and oldest present at the party to watch the chaos she'd rought. "That's quite the mess you've landed Lobelia in fwîr."

The honey brunette shrugged at her godmother's words with a cheeky grin on her face, completely unrepentant. "If she didn't want to get in trouble she shouldn't have tried to take what didn't belong to her in the first place odhril."

The gray wizard chuckled heartily "Too true, too true. Perhaps she'll learn from this experience?"

As they watched the other tween be pulled from the party, shame-faced, by her still nagging mother Bramble stated "I hope so, though I won't hold my breath. Lobelia's rather stubborn." before taking a sip of the tea she'd poured from the two magic-users' teapot, leaning back into the sofa between them with a content smile. "One can dream though."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Legolas would have been in his early 100s when Holly was taken, meaning that by the time of Bramble's birth he would be 2803. Holly wasn't kidding when she said she'd been gone for a long time.  
> And to those curious as to why Elrond and the other elves of Rivendell haven't seen a small child before Bramble in a long time if Aragorn was raised there... He isn't born for another 33 years when Bramble visited them. (Bilbo is 41 years older than him!)
> 
> Fwîr is the elvish word for sister-daughter (niece) according to my research. While odhril is Sindarin elvish for a female parent (non-specified if it's meant like mother, godmother, of adoptive mother). There is a word for mother/mama also (Naneth/Nana) but there doesn't seem to be a word for aunt or godmother. (elvish is hard)  
> I'm trying to keep the timeline/events as close to canon as possible so that involves a lot of research and calculations on my end.
> 
> Next Chapter is the following year, the Fell Winter.


	4. The Fell Winter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holly gets her newest title/the reason the story is titled as it is.
> 
> (Mild blood and gore warning in this chapter. Nothing explicit, just a heads up.)

It had been a year since the new years party that Bramble had given Lobelia a lesson about stealing one's possessions and, unlike the year prior (or any year in recent memory) there was snow in the Shire. Winter had started early this year and seemed unwilling to end, the winds cooler and harsher that hobbits were used to, and the temperature had dipped so low that the Brandywine River had managed to freeze over!

Holly had been forced to move from her cave home to the far warmer - if a little cramped for one of her height - smial of her friends. Bag End was currently host to the Bagginses that called it home, their gardeners the Gamgees, and a smattering of Belladonna and Bungo's cousins that had lived nearer Hobbiton than Tuckborough. Bungo had thought it wiser to pool their stocks of food and firewood among one large home than several smaller ones, a decision proven wise when the first howls of wolves and shrieks of orcs echoed across the snow covered hills of the Shire.

It seemed that the harshness of this Fell Winter, as the locals had just started calling it, had driven both desperate enough to chance Holly's territory for food... That or they'd hoped she'd frozen to death somehow. Either was possible.

As the group in Bag End passed their days through knitting, reading some of the master of the house's many books, tales of adventure from both Belladonna and Holly, or (in the case of the few Took-blooded among them) simple weapons and defense training from the dark elf among them. It was unlikely that any of them here - save Bramble and her parents - would ever need to use their new knife skills beyond showing off at the green dragon by throwing a bullseye at the dartboard, but the green eyed elf felt better knowing that most of the adults here could defend themselves if needed now.

They'd need those skills if those ravenous wolves and orc packs got any bolder in their attacks... The last raid hit Fosco and Ruby's house when Holly left to check the damage, who thankfully were among those staying in Bag End at the moment, leaving the entire extended family in the smial shaken. 

And to make matters worse earlier this week Bramble and the other children had fallen ill. For Otho Sackville-Baggins, Dora and Drogo Baggins, and Adalgrim Took, who were all younger than Bramble was, the illness seemed all the worse. The healer in Holly knew that, without a hearty stew that they no longer had the meat or even bones for making broth, they would heal all the slower... If they managed to heal at all.

They had to do something, fast.

Belladonna agreed, volunteering to - with her husband and properly armed - travel to Tuckborough for the proper supplies. The daughter of the Thain had no doubt that her family would spare the needed meat or bones (if even they had run out of the former) when asked. Tooks took care of their own, be they family or hobbits of any other clan in the whole of the Shire, it was a duty they'd gladly fulfilled since the distant wandering days and one of the reasons they were the family in charge of the Shire in the first place. And so, gathering their fur travelling clothes that hadn't been worn since their last trek to Rivendell and Belladonna's adventuring weapons to defend themselves if needed, the couple set off in the frigid and stormy weather.

Holly would have gladly followed them, but she'd promised her friends to stay and keep an eye on the children for them, knowing she could help them a bit with her healing skills as both a witch and an elf until they returned... After a few days had passed with no signs of the couple the dark elf and her charges were understandably worried.

"They should've been back by now... Tuckborough's only a few hours walk from here, even with the storm delaying them it should've only taken a day each way at most!" Ruby fretted as she helped Holly monitor the children, in the other room her husband nodded gravely. "D'you reckon us menfolk should get a search party going? They might've gotten turned around with how nasty the snows gotten, headed to Bywater by accident or gotten stranded in Hobbiton while bringing the supplies back?"

Avada green eyes hardened with determination as the she elf replied "No, you stay here. I'm a far more seasoned tracker and can cover ground over the snow far quicker, you need to stay here and keep the children stable while I search. If the weather did turn Belladonna around then none of you would have a chance finding your way back."

From his seat across the room, next to Fosco on the sofa, Hildigrim Took held a hand on the Baggins man's shoulder to calm his offense at the reply. The Took knew all too well how true his godsister's words were. There wasn't a hobbit alive more experienced a traveler than his sister Belladonna and she'd never once gotten lost on her way, if you'd believe her tales, so for her to be lost **in the Shire** was cause for concern if it was true. 

If Belladonna Took-Baggins could be turned around by this storm any hobbit could.

As the dark elf wrapped her warg pelt cloak around her, bringing its face area up like a hood to protect her pointed ears from the howling winds, she left. The worried "You take care out there." from Rosa Took as she did only spurring Holly to travel quicker. 

The dark skinned woman practically flew over the snow buried hills of the North Farthing, thanking the fact that she could walk on top of the feet of snow with ease and barely leave a footprint still. The witch had no clue how she'd manage her search if she had lost even that in her transition to something between elf and orc. The winds were muddling her hearing and the snow was making her vision spotty at best, but thankfully one change she'd received was proving useful at the moment: her heightened sense of smell.

...Though she wishes it wasn't as she followed it to the sickly-sweet smell of her friends' blood.

Holly had lost a great many of her loved ones, had held more friends' lifeless bodies in her arms than her heart could take. But seeing Belladonna and Bungo, alongside three of the 15 wolves currently ripping them and their supplies apart to sate their hunger, dead before her broke her heart in a way it hadn't since Luna and Draco at the Battle of Hogwarts. Something in the dark elf, a part of her that had always triggered when one hurt her loved ones, had her seeing red.

A grief-stricken Holly Potter had decimated hundreds of Voldemort's followers during the battle after Draco's death at the start and only grew all the more formidable after Luna dying in her arms... The wolves never stood a chance.

 

\-----

 

When Holly returned, covered in blood and hauling over a dozen wolf carcasses into Bag End with an emotionless face, the hobbits were understandingly worried. Their worries only grew as the she elf started to skin and prepare the canines like some of them had seen her prepare a deer. Joining the dark elf warily, knowing what to do and not one to deny food they desperately need - even if it did come from an unusual source - Rosa Took and her husband started to help her.

It was once they'd each finished a wolf apiece that Hildigrim spoke "Holly... What happened? Where's my little sister, her husband?"

The witch's empty expression gave way to visible grief, tears flowing from green eyes as the elf's walls broke at the words. "They- they're gone Hildigrim... The wolves attacked them for their supplies on the way back. Belladonna managed to kill three of them, to try and frighten them off, but the pack was too big and too hungry to give up." Holly broke down in to heavy sobs, a few of the hobbits joining her at the news "I should have gone with them! I could've- They should be-"

The Took couple wiped their bloodied hands on a rag nearby and pulled the taller woman into a hug. "It isn't your fault Holly." Hildigrim said, cutting the she elf off when she tried to protest "No, I mean it. Belladonna made you promise to stay here when you offered to go and if the number of wolves you brought here is any indication than Bell and Bungo didn't stand a chance..."

Once the group had calmed a bit, their tears less heavy, Fosco piped up with a sad but necessary question "What did you do with their bodies? The snow's too deep for a burial and any remaining wolves'd just dig them up."

Holly, after wiping the last tears from her still distraught face, reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of round gemstones about the size of an acorn; one black in color with emerald flecks in it, the other a dark brown - the same dark chestnut as Bungo's hair - with bronze speckles throughout. "I couldn't leave them like that and I knew they couldn't be buried, so I used my magic to transfigure them... permanently. I thought that this way they could still be with Bramble in some way."

Rosa smiled a watery smile "Thank you Holly. I'm sure they would've loved that."

 

\-----

 

The children made a quick recovery with all the wolf stew they ate over the next few days. And the wolf pelts, which only grew in number with each day the dark elf left to clear more of the beasts from the Shire, decorated the smial. Bramble, upon hearing what fate had befallen her parents, felt a small bit of joy with each new skin adorning her home. Her relatives didn't begrudge her that small bit of comfort, feeling a bit of the same vengeful anger towards the creatures in the back of their minds.

The Tooks among them had even taken it in stride when their little niece and cousin asked her godmother to teach her how to skin and prepare meat with one of the elf's latest quarry, though the Sackville-Bagginses did look a bit peaky when they'd glanced in the pantry room the pair had made into their makeshift slaughterhouse to check on them. They didn't have the constitution for something so... messy.

Holly had even returned a few times with trophies of an orcish sort once or twice, mainly weapons and fangs. By the time Gandalf had come to the Shire, with rangers and supplies to try and aid the supposedly helpless folk, they had come across a very clear message to any orcs who stumbled upon the area; a series of orc heads hoisted upon pikes along the boundaries of the Shire.

Rushing to each town to discover the cause (and only getting half awed - half fearful whispers about "that Dark Elf" and "the Wolfslayer") Gandalf and the lead ranger, alongside the Old Took, traveled to Bag End to talk to Holly. None of them could believe that such a gentle soul could be so vicious, even if her victims **were** orcs. But upon hearing what become of the Thain's favorite daughter and her husband explained, everything suddenly made sense. But it also left the wizard and Old Took distraught. 

Belladonna and Bungo Baggins were gone...

The ranger chieftain, Argonui, understood the woman's need for vengeance and was impressed with her handiwork. Offering the dark elf a place among his people, few though they were these days, should she want it the Dunedain left the Shire's protection in Holly's very capable hands when he and his fellow rangers left. When his son Arador and grandson Arathorn asked him why later the old chieftain chuckled "Because if tales about her as 'The Dark Elf' kept dangers from the Shire before, then the tales we and her kin will spread about her as 'The Lady of the Fell Winter' will guarantee none ever so much as **think** of stepping foot in the Shire ever again." 

Arathorn, young though he was, saw the wisdom in that. "So... I take it we're stopping in a few inns along the ride?"

"A wonderful idea that." Argonui agreed "And after a winter this long and foul i'd say a few pints are deserved."

The rangers who heard that cheered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little cameo of Aragorn's family, since the rangers helped with the Fell Winter before he was born, at the end there. And a bunch of cameos from Bilbo's relatives too. (Yes, I did alter the timeline here a little to make the story more interesting. But I did keep things as close to accurate as possible otherwise.) Hope you liked this!
> 
> Next chapter will be a time skip to the start of the Hobbit (Gandalf coming to ask Bramble and Holly to come on an adventure.)


End file.
